Hi Good People! As some of you may have heard, I have been diagnosed with Advanced Prostate Cancer this year, which has severely messed with my plans for a quiet life! As you can imagine, this has turned my life, and Linda’s, upside down in many ways. I’ve started hormone therapy, which has some nasty side effects, and have been told that I will continue with this for the rest of my life. It seems that my cancer has travelled to my liver, which is not good news.

However, your cheery very retired priest, although pretty tired most days, is positive about what could happen, and is taking things one day at a time with the help of Ayrshire Cancer Support.

Ayrshire Cancer Support run their Ayrshire to Beatson Challenge every August and September, encouraging supporters to fundraise by walking, running, cycling or swimming a distance of their choice, to represent the distance Ayrshire Cancer Supports volunteer drivers cover daily, taking patients from Ayrshire to the Beatson Hospital, for treatment.

I am walking 80 miles, hopefully, between now and the end of September 2025. The dogs are pleased! This is the distance between my house to the Beatson and back again.

With current fuel prices, each trip to the Beatson costs the volunteer drivers roughy £55. Cancer patients often need this service multiple times a week for months or even years! I should need 20 treatments over four weeks which comes to a total of £1,100. Not that I would be required to pay a penny, but I thought I could raise the cost of this treatment with a little help from my friends.

It’s not just free travel which the Charity covers. There is a drop-in, where there are always kind and friendly faces, offering coffee and support. There are counselling services offered, and I may soon utilise the complementary therapies and support groups which take place in the building. The garden is pictured above. Families and children are also supported, and the children’s space is incredible!

I need to get fitter than I am at present, and this challenge will help me get out and about, and hopefully assist me to feel better, knowing too, that I am raising money for one of the best Charities I have come across since my move to Ayrshire.

So, help please! I will give updates as the time goes on, on Facebook. Please give as little or as much as you can afford and accept my heartfelt gratitude for your donation. £1,100 is a lot to raise, but together we can do it!